Smile! You’re at the best WordPress.com site ever

Humans Carbon Emmisions

How much carbon does a typical person use?

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average person creates 48,488 pounds of carbon every year. That’s equivalent to removing 110 trees or adding four more cars to the road every year.

How can we reduce our carbon footprint?

There are several lifestyle choices that we can make to reduce our carbon footprint. Choosing green energy sources, such as wind and solar, buying energy efficient appliances, carpooling and recycling are all steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint. Although we cannot directly eliminate all carbon emissions from our daily activities, we can offset them! Carbon offsets are measurable and tangible benefits granted to environmental projects that help mitigate the carbon emissions and support a sustainable environment.

What are carbon offsets – How do they work?

A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide made in order to offset an emission made elsewhere. Carbon offsets are typically measured in tons and are achieved through funding projects that offset carbon emissions. Projects have a broad range; from forestry projects in South America to large wind turbine projects in the United States.
Purchasing carbon offsets means you are contributing to a reduction in carbon emissions that would not have happened without the financial support of the carbon offset market This concept is known as “additionality”.
For example, gas capture projects at landfills not only prevent the release of methane gas into the atmosphere, but they also use the captured methane to generate electricity that would otherwise be generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas. Gas capture projects can be expensive. In order to finance the construction and operation of the project, the developer can sell the emission reductions in the form of carbon offsets.